Cognitive computing: What businesses need to know

The ability to think is one of the things that marks us out as human, “I think therefore I am,” as the philosopher René Descartes put it. But what if machines were able to mimic human thought processes? This is the basic premise behind cognitive computing. In order to replicate human thought processes, cognitive computing uses techniques like pattern recognition, data mining and natural language processing. The ultimate goal is to be able to make computer systems that are capable of solving complex problems without needing human assistance to prompt them in the right direction. Computing giant IBM which is one of the leaders in the field describes this as, “systems that learn at scale, reason with purpose and interact with humans naturally.” Research into artificial intelligence dates back more…